The gospel on celebrity and pop culture

Emma Watson's first crush: 'Harry Potter' costar Tom Felton

June 29, 2011 | 1:06
pm

Emma Watson had an on-set "Harry Potter" crush — and it wasn't for the guy who played Ron Weasley.

The "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part 2" star revealed that while filming the first two "Harry Potter" films, her 11-year-old self had a "huge crush" on costar Tom Felton, who plays bleached-blond Slytherin nemesis Draco Malfoy.

"He was my first crush," the actress tells Seventeen magazine. "He totally knows. We talked about it — we still laugh about it. We are really good friends now, and that's cool."

Felton now has a long-term girlfriend, Jade Olivia, whom he met three years ago when she was a stunt coordinator's assistant on the "Harry Potter" set. But our Muggle minds are still whirring with the possibilities in a Draco Malfoy-Hermione Granger romance. Could the mudblood-hating pureblood actually have gone for the frizzy-haired, know-it-all witch? Sounds like the makings of some incredibly fun fan fiction, and members of the Draco-Hermione camp must be ecstatic right about now.

But Watson doesn't count her feelings for Felton as a "celebrity crush."

"I've never understood having crushes on people who you don't know in real life. I only crush on people I meet," she said. "I mean, I can appreciate that someone is good-looking, obviously, but I don't intend to fantasize about people I don't know!"

The Brown University dropout also dished about her alternative prospects had she not become the brainy best friend of a certain lightning-scarred wizard.

"If I hadn't done 'Harry Potter,' I would have gone and done years of art. I really do love it, and I'd love to write," she said.

At 21, Watson is currently brushing up on her American accent for the film "Perks of Being a Wallflower," trying her best to not sound like Paris Hilton. Listen to her Yankee voice here.